If you doubt that headline, look no farther than this story in the USA Today. According to the story, social media companies are the fourth-lowest scoring with consumers after Internet service providers, subscription television companies, and airlines. The industry has a score of 71 on a 100 point scale. Facebook scored lower than the average social media company, coming in at a whopping 67 percent, up from “south of 0” last time around (okay, seriously up from 59 percent). But that score was taken right before Facebook was outed for having tried manipulating its users’ emotions (nothing new there really, but people were pissed). So their 67 percent score probably hit the 50s again shortly thereafter. I, for one, don’t really fault Facebook for using their omnipotent powers of persuasion on their users. But it’s kind of funny that this is social media.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you no doubt know that Google released another version of its infamous “Panda” search algorithm. The first time Panda was released, back in 2011, the sky fell and many SEO’s lost their minds. In fact, many are still–to this day–in rubber rooms wearing white jackets. They do a lot of mumbling. But I digress. So Google proceeded to inform its viewing public that it was releasing version 4.0 of Panda, back around May 20, 2014. It was to be about a 10-day rollout. Well, the shit hit the fan a few days before that, when lots of sites lost their rankings (again). According to this Winners & Losers chart, some really big sites took some major hits to traffic. Sites that got hit really hard were press release sites. Go figure – writing “SEO Press Releases” was the big SEO gimmick of 2013. Google finally caught on. It seems that eBay got drilled on the Penguin rollout, too, but–coincidentally–there is speculation that they didn’t suffer from the application of the Panda update so much as they incurred a penalty, presumably for their ginormous data breach that happened several months ago but that is just now getting some airplay. But, all in all, the Earth’s 7 billion+ people are still alive. The sky hasn’t fallen just yet.

Panda schmanda! Stop messing around with tricking Google with schemes and tactics that may work today but assuredly will not work tomorrow. Here’s the skinny on building “Panda-proof” web sites. No joke. Here are some simple rules to avoid Panda penalties: Avoiding the Killer Panda Write good content that is original. It’s no longer good enough to copy somebody else’s content (remember, that’s called plagiarism) and call it your own. It may be good enough–once in a while–to curate other people’s content, give proper attribution, and add your own quality commentary. Add images, videos, and audio where appropriate. Always include at least one other form of media, besides text. Text is boring. Nobody will read everything you say, but they might just watch a video of you saying it. I know… Your content must provide value. Play nice. Don’t try tricking Google into ranking you higher than you really should be ranked. Forget all the old SEO tricks. That’s about it. Boring, I know. But effective. You have to provide value in order to not get hit. Further, if you actually provide quality content that people want, your rankings will improve. Better yet, your traffic will soar and if you’re monetizing your site, your income will increase appreciably. Sources: http://www.swampfoxdigital.com/blog/building-search-friendly-content/ Source Wave on YouTube

SAN FRANCISCO — As much as 50% of e-mail traffic sent from or to Gmail users isn’t really private, and Google thinks it should be. To nudge e-mail providers to make use of already existing encryption, Google on Tuesday published a page telling users which e-mail services support encryption and which do not, based on what it can see of e-mails sent by Gmail’s 425 million active users worldwide. This news is good yet appalling. We’ve had the technology to do this for years now, and all it takes is the flip of a switch. You see, it doesn’t matter whether Google encrypts its email (it does), but whether both sending and receiving parties have encryption turned on. Many don’t. Read more here.

Apple Inc. (AAPL:US)’s pitch to developers at its annual conference yesterday shows how Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is ramping up efforts to keep programmers from switching loyalties to Google Inc. and others. With Google trying to lure coders and designers to create more for its Android mobile software, Apple used its event to introduce new features to keep them in the fold. The iPhone maker showed improved methods for customers to find apps to download, a new programming language to create apps more quickly, and tools so the programs can work seamlessly together. Read more about it right here.

David Bell, the Xinmei Zhang and Yongge Dai Professor at the Wharton School, spoke to alumni in Los Angeles about managing brand and customer assets through digital marketing on the first stop of the Wharton Knowledge for Action Lifelong Learning tour.

Thorough cryptanalysis will search for backdoors and crippling weaknesses. TrueCrypt, the whole-disk encryption tool endorsed by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and used by millions of privacy and security enthusiasts around the world, will receive a second round of safety audits despite being declared unsafe and abruptly abandoned by its anonymous developers two days ago. Read more here about the demise of TrueCrypt. TrueCrypt was made for encrypting important data and was endorsed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. That’s kind of funny right there! Read more about TrueCrypt here. Make sure you migrate your data to another service, if you’re so inclined.

I took a look at what some of the most successful entrepreneurs and business leaders on Google+ are doing to increase their conversions. Now, I’m sharing some of their most innovative tricks with you to take back and test on your own G+ page. Read more here.

I just ran across a great resource for information marketing called – appropriately – the “Information Marketing Roundup” and it’s right here: –> http://internet-marketing-muscle.com/information-marketing-roundup-issue1/ In this, author Bill Davis brings you the best posts on the internet about information marketing. This appears to be the very first post, and it’s a doosey. It’s got content from Copy Blogger, the Traffic Generation Cafe, Rand Fishkin of MOZ, Pro Blogger, and Guy Kawasaki. Content covered includes internet marketing, social media, content marketing, SEO, and blogging. It’s a great resource and I’m so glad I found it. I think you’ll find it useful, too.